CRESTVIEW — City department heads reported that with the budget year about 60 percent over, their budgets are roughly on track.
During a June 30 City Council budget workshop, City Council President Joe Blocker queried department leaders on 2015-16 spending.
PUBLIC WORKS: Director Wayne Steele reported his budget is between 60 and 70 percent spent, though some line items have reached 100 percent or more.
“Some repairs and maintenance (are) eating me alive,” Steele said. “I've had a lot of lift station repairs, and water wells repairs and a lot of building and maintenance repairs. It's been one of those years. They come in cycles.”
However, Steele said his planned Public Works projects have come in under budget.
“We've had some very good bid responses this year that have come in under our projections,” he said. “Our purchases on equipment, we've been able to get the equipment we needed at lesser cost than projected in our budget.”
POLICE DEPARTMENT: Police Chief Tony Taylor said his department has spent about 65-70 percent of its budget as well. He anticipates carrying between $700-800,000 in cash forward to the next budget year due to vacant positions.
“We're one (police officer) position down and anywhere from four to five dispatchers down over the year,” he said.
LIBRARY: While Library Director Marie Heath did not have her expenditures figures with her, she said she expects to carry “a little bit” forward into the 2016-17 budget year, “but not as much as the chief.”
FIRE DEPARTMENT: Fire Chief Joe Traylor said his department, too, had personnel issues that affected his budget. Two firefighters are out receiving workers’ compensation due to injuries; another is in the military reserves and was called up for duty.
Overtime pay has increased as other firefighters fulfill the duties of the three who are out.
“Overall we're about 65 percent of the entire budget, Traylor said. “There are categories within the budget that went over but there is funding within the budget to move.
“We won't go over our total budget. …Part of that is fuel savings because the cost of fuel has not risen but has gone down.”
“Most of the departments are between 5 and 7 percent of where they need to be,” said City Clerk Betsy Roy, whose office oversees the city’s Finance Department.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview city budgets running on track